Holiday Inn’s parent company has launched an investigation into a “shocking” viral video that shows a Black customer berating an autistic employee.
IHG hotels, which owns Holiday Inn, was disturbed by the video that was posted to Twitter.com on Sunday by Tariq Nasheed under the hashtag “Mayonnaise Meltdown.”
“Why did you get mad and hit the compruter [sic],” the customer asked repeatedly.
The employee is seen punching himself in the face and hitting his head on a computer monitor after the customer pressed him about a reservation error.
“You’ve ruined my night, you’ve ruined my life, man,” the employee said before walking away in tears.
The customer was later ejected from the hotel for harassing other employees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaUTKA1Y8io
IHG hotels called the treatment of the employee “unacceptable” and vowed to investigate the incident.
“We were shocked and saddened to see the video and the clearly unacceptable treatment of a longtime hotel colleague,” Jacob Hawkins, a spokesperson for IHG Hotels & Resorts told Newsweek.
Hawkins said the Holiday Inn location where the incident took place is an independently owned franchise.
Still, he said every employee representing IHG Hotels & resorts “deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.”
A Reddit user who identified himself as the employee said he quit his job and drank heavily after the video went viral.
He added that he suffers from bipolar disorder and schizo-affective disorders.
Empathetic Internet users donated over $123,000 to a GoFundMe created by a YouTube vlogger who identified the former employee as “Caleb C.”
Twitter users were quick to criticize Tariq and the customer who filmed the video. A group of women attacked Tariq who referred to them as “non-FBA bed wenches.”
